Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan publicly said what many basketball fans in Los Angeles believe but dare not say.
He doesn't consider the Los Angeles Lakers to be the Clippers' rival.
Jordan said as much on Monday, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Clippers have been the unloved NBA step child, compared to the beloved Lakers, since the Clippers moved from San Diego to L.A. in 1984.
The Lakers have won six world championships since sharing the city with the Clippers. The Clippers have four winning seasons in that same span. But the Clippers are expected to contend for an NBA champion with coach Doc Rivers joining a nucleus that includes all-star guard Chris Paul and all-star forward Blake Griffin, while the Lakers are considered in a rebuilding mode, with Kobe Bryant not yet fully recovered from a torn Achilles Heel that he suffered near the end of the 2013 regular season.
Jordan, the Times reported, refused to hype a Lakers-Clippers rivalry as the teams meet in the 2013-14 season opener on Tuesday night. But Jordan's comments had nothing to do with disparaging the Lakers.
"I don't think it'll ever be a rivalry. You guys [in the media] want it to be, though," Jordan said. "I would say Memphis more than the Lakers.
"I went to Texas A&M, and Texas was not a rival," Jordan said to the Times. "They were Oklahoma's rival, but I hated Texas. It's not like that's my rival, though. I hate every other NBA team in the league. If anybody [is our rival], I'd say Memphis."
The Clippers beat the Grizzlies in seven games during the 2012 playoffs, while the Grizzlies gained revenge with a six-game playoff victory over the Clippers last season. The Clippers swept the season series with the Lakers last season, winning all four games for the first time in their history.
"People are going to hype this game to be more than what it is," the Times reported Jordan as saying of Tuesday night's matchup. "But it's just our Game 1 and a Western Conference team that we have to beat and a team in the league we have to beat. That's it."
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